Editorials
10 Truly Scary TV Episodes to Binge in October
One of the best things about the month of October is that horror can be found everywhere, from both the big screen and small. There’s a long history of television shows getting into the spirit of Halloween, with holiday and horror-centric episodes. Though there may be no shortage in horror TV series these days, the chills and thrills delivered by Halloween themed episodes likely played a vital role in shaping horror on the small screen into what it is today. While October is full of horror movie watch lists, here are the scariest TV episodes that prove sometimes television offers the biggest scares worth binging this Halloween:
“The Perils of Punky” – Punky Brewster (air date:10/20/1985)
This two-part Halloween episode of ‘80s phenom Punky Brewster left traumatic scars on the minds of unsuspecting children everywhere. Normally a family-friendly sitcom about a very spunky orphan, Punky, and her dog, this episode begins like any other standard episode with Punky and her pals on a camping trip. Naturally, they begin to tell each other scary stories around the campfire, and before long Punky is on a quest to vanquish the evil that lurks in a cavern as her friends begin to disappear. Giant spiders and dancing skeletons would be enough to terrorize impressionable young minds, right? Cue the moment Punky begs the entity to give her back her friends, and the horrific face of her friend Alan, now monstrous, pops up in the wall to frighten her. Pure. Nightmare. Fuel.
“The Haunted Mask” – Goosebumps (air date: 10/27/1995)
Another beloved two-part Halloween special that left a lasting impression during youth, this Goosebumps episode remains one of the most popular. It also happens to be one of the scariest. A cautionary tale of acceptance, the real terror lies with that grotesque mask. Carly Beth’s panic at the mask becoming part of her skin, therefore unable to remove it, is palpable. It’s the type of thing that makes one swear off wearing masks on Halloween for life.
“The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float” – Are You Afraid of the Dark? (air date: 10/7/1995)
Horror has long-since taught us to be afraid of the ocean, but this episode also taught us to fear the swimming pool. The episode opens in 1951, where a boy smells something strange in the water at a public pool before being pulled under to his death. Cut to forty years later, where science fanatic Zeke trades tutoring for swim lessons with his crush. Naturally, he picks the same pool from the episode’s opening, now a hidden secret locked away behind lockers. Zeke discovers the source of that smell; a gnarly corpse that loves to drown swimmers. This episode is quick and suspenseful, but it’s amazing creature effects that make this episode stand out above the rest.
“The House that Bled to Death” – Hammer House of Horror (air date: 10/11/1980)
This Hammer Films anthology series inexplicably only had one season, and, as this creepy episode indicates, it should have had much more. The cold open sets up the haunting atmosphere right off the bat, with an elder couple quietly enjoying tea before the husband brutally murders his wife with a knife. A new family moves into the home and quickly find themselves dealing with tell-tale signs of hauntings: strange noises, bloody handprints, a terrible pet death, and the worst children’s birthday party in horror history. It’s this moment that makes the episode memorable, with gallons of blood spilling out from burst pipes onto children during what’s supposed to be a celebration. That alone would be enough, but the episode delivers one last scare in the form of an insane twist.
“Only Skin Deep” – Tales from the Crypt (air date: 10/31/1994)
Directed by William Malone (House on Haunted Hill), this Halloween themed episode is a bright spot in season sixth’s overall weak season. Perhaps inspiring future Masters of Horror episode Jenifer, this episode sees a real jerk of a human crashing his ex’s Halloween party, where he meets a mysterious masked woman that offers him a night he won’t ever forget. Carl is easily one of the series’ most detestable characters; the episode quickly establishes his history with violence and domestic disturbance. His obsession with masked woman Molly leads to graphic sex, making for an uncomfortable watch considering how repulsive he is. Which makes the gruesome twist so satisfying. What’s beneath Molly’s mask is downright gory, and Carl’s fate is a chilling dose of karma.
“Nightcrawlers” – The Twilight Zone (air date: 10/18/1985)
One of the best segments in The Twilight Zone’s revival series was based on a short story by Robert R. McCammon and directed by the prolific William Friedkin. A dark tale about the lasting horrors of the Vietnam War, Nightcrawlers features an AWOL soldier with an uncanny ability to manifest his thoughts in a small-town diner after a massacre at a nearby motel. The manifestations begin small enough, with cold beers and steaks appearing just by wishing for it. Soon, though, the diner becomes a war zone of phantom soldiers laying siege. An extremely dark, violent episode with memorably tense performances, Nightcrawlers remains one of the best segments in the revival.
“Everybody Loves a Clown” -Supernatural (air date: 10/5/2006)
When the series is about two brothers hunting down ghosts, monsters, and demons, what makes this episode so special? Clowns. Clowns are scary. The clown in this episode is actually a demon in disguise; it takes on the form of a clown to trick children into bringing it home with them so it can devour their parents. By day, it’s a knife thrower at a carnival. Nothing creepy about that, right? Wrong. The cold open that sees the clown following a little girl and her family home is one of the creepiest moments in television.
“Incident on and Off a Mountain Road” – Masters of Horror (air date: 10/28/2005)
The premiere episode of Masters of Horror packed a huge punch and fitting that the horror series began so close to Halloween. Directed by Don Coscarelli, and featuring a fun performance by Angus Scrimm, this episode had it all: gore, violence, trigger warnings, eye trauma, and a super fun twist. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for stories where the predator becomes the prey, as well as Coscarelli’s brand of humor. Bree Turner makes for a fine final girl, but it’s Ethan Embry’s turn as the violent husband that’s scariest of all.
“Night of Desirable Objects” -Fringe (air date: 9/24/2009)
So, the original air date of this underrated sci-fi show aired late September, not October. It’s close enough. Besides, from a setting and tonal standpoint, it’s very Halloween-like in aesthetic. This monster of the week type episode features a small Pennsylvanian town like a certain X-Files episode, a creaky old house, one super tense scene in a field with a scarecrow (seriously, horror needs more scarecrows), and a very creepy underground dwelling creature that feeds on people. Genetically modifying babies is bad, people. An eerie and suspenseful episode that comes close to invoking the suspenseful episodes of the X-Files, Night of Desirable Objects is perfect for Halloween.
“Home” – The X-Files (air date: 10/11/1996)
The first episode of The X-Files to receive a viewer discretion warning for a reason, it was banned from re-airing on Fox. The producers called it tasteless. I call it the scariest episode of television. Set in the small town of Home, Pennsylvania (sounds familiar), the duo of Mulder and Scully find themselves contending with a clan of violent, homicidal inbreds. It’s the graphic discussion of incest that disturbed the network and producers, but it’s the tense home invasion aspect and the disfigured family that makes this episode so scary. That moment where the agents find quadruple amputee Mrs. Peacock under the bed? Chilling. As scary as this episode is, perhaps scariest of all is that part of the basis for the story came from Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography- in which locals from a small Welsh town invited him to meet a deformed man living in a kitchen cupboard.
There’s a lot of reading left to do in 2026, between the glut of summer releases and the approach of fall, when horror titles get a special push from publishers, but this has already been an incredible year for horror literature.
Some of the biggest names in the genre have turned in outstanding work, rising stars have made their mark, and we’re only halfway through the year.
To celebrate the midway point of 2026, with plenty of horror books still to come, we’re taking a look back at the best horror books we’ve read this year so far, listed alphabetically by author.
If you missed any of these books earlier in the year, consider this your reminder to catch up.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
A student running from a crime he may or may not have committed escapes to his father’s country home in Japan, only to find himself haunted by strange apparitions, while in the past, a young samurai tries to find salvation for her family and finds a door to the future instead. Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic begins with this dialogue between past and present, and then blossoms into so much more, a cross-time ghost story about old wounds and what it really takes to finally heal them. I got so happily lost in this one that I would have read at least 200 more pages.
Persona by Aoife Josie Clements
In this tale of shut-ins, sex workers, artists, and the horrors they both summon and recoil from, Aoife Josie Clements weaves something that feels less like a story to be experienced and more like a psychic wound to be endured, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Evocative in its prose and nightmarish in its imagery, Persona is a story of the masks we wear, and the understanding that not all of our masks are particularly pretty or even easy to breathe through. It’s a dense, literary, unnervingly vicious book, and while it’s already attracted an audience, it deserves a much bigger one.
Dead First by Johnny Compton
Johnny Compton’s latest novel opens with a throwing down of the gauntlet, a sequence that made me instantly think “How on Earth is he going to top this?” It’s a story that begins with a billionaire hiring a private investigator to determine why, despite trying in many brutal ways, he cannot die. That premise, and the scene which sets it all off, is so alluring and delightfully gruesome that you almost can’t believe it’s the way a book begins, and then Compton just keeps going, delivering a supernatural mystery that I could not put down.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
A woman grieving for the life she wanted visits a mysterious island renowned for the healing salt its residents harvest and sell, seeking renewal and relief. What she finds instead is a strange cult with a twisted history with surprising resonance in her own life, and a people who are more than willing to grant the relief she wants, for a price. Laced with beautiful prose and moments of profound realization alongside folk and even cosmic horror, this is vintage Sarah Gailey.
Partially Devoured by Daniel Kraus
If you love horror film history and analysis, Partially Devoured is an essential. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, the book is a deep dive into his favorite movie of all time, George A. Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead, complete with exhaustive research into the making of the film and passages of deeply moving memoir woven in. If you’ve ever wanted to know what the eerie music that opens the film is called while also bursting into tears at how horror movies can save your life, this is a must-read.
Wretch by Eric LaRocca
Our reigning King of Extreme Horror, Eric LaRocca weaves books of uncommon beauty out of the most nightmarish parts of humanity, and Wretch is no exception. The story of a grieving man who longs for relief and searches for it amid a strange support group that might be a cult, Wretch is a brutal journey into the darkest part of us all, and explores what salvation we might find when we get to the rotten core of the world and peel back its layers. LaRocca’s on a tear of great work right now that few other genre writers can match.
Headlights by CJ Leede
A mystery, a serial killer horror show, a tribute to Stephen King‘s The Shining. All of these things describe CJ Leede’s Headlights, and yet they don’t begin to cover the full breadth of horror awaiting you in this novel. The story of a former FBI agent drawn back into the cold case that haunts him most, it’s a shocker brimming over with vivid moments that’ll live behind your eyes. CJ Leede has now published three novels, and they’re all bangers, so it’s time to get on board if you haven’t already.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Cynthia Pelayo has been one of our finest genre writers for years now, but It Came From Neverland is my favorite thing she’s written, and it’s not even close. A dark take on Peter Pan from the perspective of an adult Wendy Darling living in World War I-era London, Pelayo’s book works as both a satisfying horror narrative and a rich exploration of what it really means to never grow up. The horror never loses its potency, but it’s the search for the meaning behind the Peter Pan phenomenon in our own lives, and what we can do about it, that sticks with me most.
Filth Eaters by Ito Romo
Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters is a slim volume, one you can read in just a couple of hours if you’ve got the inclination, but it has the feel of a generation-spanning epic. The story of a breed of vampires born in Central America, the European vampires who encounter them, and the offspring they eventually produced, it spans centuries and packs loads of juicy lore into its pages while never losing its grip on character and narrative drive. I would read hundreds more pages of this world, but I’ll settle for this uncommonly grand-scale novella for now.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
A former pro gamer gets a job at a tech company to pilot a brain-dead human body across the country, and so Paul Tremblay’s sci-fi-horror juggernaut begins. Indebted to Philip K. Dick, the primal snarl of Harlan Ellison, and the quirky comedy of The Big Lebowski, and yet wholly original, this is a towering and ambitious novel by one of horror’s most respected voices. What starts as a high-concept tech thriller soon becomes a startling meditation on the value of stories, who gets to tell them, and what happens when we cede too much control to machines we don’t understand. It’s a stunner.
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